ATHENS — Stegeman Coliseum gets one more chance to be a rowdy SEC environment in Georgia basketball’s regular-season finale.
The Bulldogs (19-11, 7-10 SEC) will close their 18-game conference schedule in the comfort of their own home when Vanderbilt visits Saturday (noon, ESPNU).
UGA will return to the venue where it kick-started a final push that is expected to be enough to make the NCAA Tournament, according to many members of the national media.
It was only 10 days ago that Georgia’s March Madness hopes looked grim when No. 3 Florida came to Athens. Stegeman’s electric home crowd roared that night as the Bulldogs pulled off an 88-83 upset, inviting the student section to rush the court.
“Playing in the Steg in front of these fans has been great, and we’ve turned it into a good home-court environment and advantage,” White said.
UGA will be happy to feed off that home-court energy again Saturday as it looks to further cement itself in the 68-team field. The Bulldogs could make the tournament and still be seeded to play the First Four, pitting them against another fringe tournament team for a spot in the 64-team tournament.
Another SEC win over the Commodores (20-10, 8-9) would further boost Georgia’s tournament chances and overall seeding. The 8-10 SEC record also would help its spot in the conference tournament next week.
The final home game will be especially meaningful for Tyrin Lawrence and Dakota Leffew, Georgia’s two Senior Day honorees. Lawrence and Leffew provided much-needed experience to UGA’s guard group after transferring in for their last season of eligibility.
“Guys from greater Atlanta that came back home, that wanted to wear the G in the last go-round,” White said. “And you challenge them every time you’ve got a Senior Day or a Senior Night, just a little bit more added incentive.”
Lawrence should have plenty of incentive already, considering he will be facing his former team Saturday. The Monticello native played four seasons at Vanderbilt before transferring to UGA last May.
White also recognized Lawrence’s and Leffew’s maturity throughout the SEC gauntlet. The veteran SEC coach often talks about keeping emotions in check throughout the season, and his players often repeat the same message.
That maturity has been especially important as hype has begin to rebuild around the program in the past couple of weeks. White is trying to keep his team’s focus on Saturday — not the SEC tournament and certainly not March Madness.
“We spent a lot of time talking about it with these guys,” White said. “We’ve got a bought in group. We’ve got a lot of youth, but those two seniors are very even-keeled, very consistent.”
UGA could use some consistency against a Vanderbilt team that forces 14.3 turnovers per game, tied for the most in the SEC. White also mentioned the Commodores’ physicality and versatility with several utility players throughout their roster.
“They’ve got a few guys that are 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-8 that play bigger than that,” White said. “They just do through, again, their connection and their physicality and just how hard they play.”
Point guard Jason Edwards leads Vanderbilt’s offense with 16.7 points per game. The Atlanta native will shoots a respectable 35% from 3-point range and can attack the paint well.
Georgia point guard Silas Demary Jr. aims to dominate again. The sophomore has been one of the top scorers in the SEC recently and has led the Bulldogs in scoring in five of the past seven games.
Georgia is 55-95 against Vanderbilt all-time. The Bulldogs are 3.5-point favorites, according to FanDuel.
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